undefined | Better HN

0 pointsotherme1232y ago0 comments

I find it hard to believe that the diverging diamond interchange from the link is less scary than a roundabout. Roundabouts are all the same, from the smallest (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2258039,-3.7709757,219m/data...) to the large (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.488386,-3.65609,436m/data=!3...), unless the designer felt the need to "improve". Arrive, yield, turn right, drive until your exit, leave.

Are you afraid of the inner lanes? Drive exclusively on the outer one, nobody cares. Do you need to go slower because you are in doubt? No problem, take even a second turn around if you need to get extra-sure.

I need to go through 16 roundabouts everyday, and after the 1000th (2 months) you gain familiarity enough.

What is this bullshit? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Madrid/@40.4965508,-3.6484... . That monstrosity, that you need to use carefully until you memorize it, is probably unique with all the mental toll that means. First time I used it, I made a bet on a lane and prayed that it went to where I wanted. A few kilometers south of that, you have this sane roundabout: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Madrid/@40.4297331,-3.5975..., doing the same 4-way joining in a more transparent and forgiving way.

0 comments

8 comments · 5 top-level

notatoad2y ago· 1 in thread

>I find it hard to believe that the diverging diamond interchange from the link is less scary than a roundabout.

a (good) diverging diamond is really not scary. my first time driving through one i didn't even realize i was driving through one. if you came up to this intersection, would you be able to tell you were entering a diverging diamond? or would you think it was just a normal instersection of two one-way roads?

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.9043408,-114.0639993,3a,75y,...

otherme123OP2y ago

Maybe it's that I never used one of them, so forgive me if I'm wrong: can I still go go the right it I missed the exit, and how? Can I do an U-turn and how? And finally, there are still traffic lights, and thus the potential to jump a red and t-bone someone.

I'm not really saying they are scary, but they are not less scary than a roundabout IMO.

adgjlsfhk12y ago· 1 in thread

the primary problem with roundabouts is their throughout. the only way to raise throughout is to increase the radius since roundabouts with more than 2 lanes don't really work. roundabouts are great for low speed roads with moderate congestion but as the speeds and number of cars increase, they make less sense

kwhitefoot2y ago

> roundabouts with more than 2 lanes don't really work.

Strange how there are so many of them in the UK then.

echelon2y ago· 1 in thread

You don't have to predict other drivers on a diverging diamond.

What you can't see from the aerial view is that the road-level indicators, slope, and guard rails enforce the diverging part. They're quite simple.

Roundabouts feel adversarial. I don't like them.

otherme123OP2y ago

They are not simple. You need traffic lights. You need road-level indicators, slopes and guard rails for them to work.

Meanwhile, I've seen roundabouts that are just a circle painted in the middle of the crossing, and that's it: everybody knows how to use it. See for example the main image of the linked article below.

USA people is so against roundabouts it hurts. According to Wikipedia, there are 160 diverging diamonds in the world, 150 of them in the USA. France built two in the 1970's, and it was so good that today they have... two. Meanwhile there are at least 300 roundabouts per million of habitants in Europe (France has 1,000 per million). Heck, even the US has at least 5,000 roundabouts. Some people call them "ugly", but even they say:

"Mélanie Cathelin, who runs a toy store on one of Abbeville’s main shopping streets, said she now finds traffic lights in other cities jarring, whether in neighboring Amiens or on a recent vacation in Florida."

"To cut down on the noise, traffic jams and fender benders occurring at one intersection, Mr. Dumont decided in 2010 to turn the troublesome spot into a roundabout. It solved the problems. Ten more traffic circles followed. In October, the city’s only remaining traffic light was sawed down."

So much for an adversarial structure...

src: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/25/world/europe/france-round...

tomohawk2y ago

Most roundabouts are the same, and then there are magic roundabouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OGvj7GZSIo

PaulDavisThe1st2y ago

Must the the Spanish influence :)

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.1052356,-106.6298892,1177m

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments